outside shower shut off valves - Escape Trailer Owners Community
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×

Go Back   Escape Trailer Owners Community > Escape Tech > Escape Systems | Water, Waste, Charging & Propane
Click Here to Login
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 10-06-2012, 09:14 AM   #1
Senior Member
 
dave macrae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: St.Albert, Alberta
Trailer: 21 ft November 17th
Posts: 847
outside shower shut off valves

Hi, it has crossed my mind that the outside shower in our 19ft is the weak link in the spring and fall. We have the extra insulation, dual pane windows, spray foam and heat mats on the tanks. We got all of this as our summers are short and so we could extend the seasons a bit. But there is the outside shower just sitting on the wrong side of the insulation exposed to the elements. My thought was to put shut off valves with drains, but it seems that the plumbing is hidden in the wardrobe closet behind the paneling. So just wondering if anyone else has put valves on their outside shower?
__________________
MacRae, 21ft
2016 GMC Yukon SLT
St.Albert Alberta
dave macrae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2012, 09:38 AM   #2
Senior Member
 
cpaharley2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
Re: outside shower shut off valves

This is why I did not order one, in all my other trailers it is, as you pointed out, the "weak" point in wintertime. Cut off valves perhaps inside the closet and complete drainage is needed as well as stuffing insulation inside the outside box to close those draft holes.
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
cpaharley2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2012, 10:00 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Trailer: 2013 Escape 19
Posts: 743
Re: outside shower shut off valves

I had asked a similar question here: http://escapeforum.org/index.php?topic=1592.30...

Doug Priestley responded that he had Reace put in shut-off valves inside the closet. So it's a problem that Reace is aware of, and has a solution. I don't know about the issue of air gaps, but it should be relatively easy to deal with.
__________________
Doug

2013 Escape 19 ("The Dog House") , 2018 Ford F150
dbailey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2012, 11:22 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
dave macrae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: St.Albert, Alberta
Trailer: 21 ft November 17th
Posts: 847
Re: outside shower shut off valves

Thanks for the help, our trailer will be @ the factroy this week and i will ask Reace if he can put these valves in. Just wondered if anyone else had a simailar concern. Glad I am not the only one who thinks about these things.
__________________
MacRae, 21ft
2016 GMC Yukon SLT
St.Albert Alberta
dave macrae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2012, 07:01 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
DonM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 170
Re: outside shower shut off valves

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dmac
Thanks for the help, our trailer will be @ the factroy this week and i will ask Reace if he can put these valves in. Just wondered if anyone else had a simailar concern. Glad I am not the only one who thinks about these things.
Ours gets started in 3 weeks and I think this is a good mod to have done. Let us know what Reace says about adding the shutoff.
__________________
Port Moody, BC
2012. Escape 19
2012 Xterra 4x4
Dog as Navigator
DonM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2013, 01:43 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
jamie beers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Vancouver, BC, British Columbia
Trailer: 19'
Posts: 326
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave macrae View Post
Thanks for the help, our trailer will be @ the factroy this week and i will ask Reace if he can put these valves in. Just wondered if anyone else had a simailar concern. Glad I am not the only one who thinks about these things.
Hi, did Reace install shutoffs? Cost? Location? Solve the issue? j
jamie beers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2013, 01:55 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
cpaharley2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
Ideally one should also have shut off valves inside the unit at each sink, toilet and to each low point drain. That way you can zone any problem and also keep your drain lines from freezing. If you winterize with antifreeze the antifreeze will not protect your low points because trapped air will prevent the antifreeze from going into the low point. Thus you will have to open the low point, like you do the sink inside until antifreeze comes out.
__________________
Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
cpaharley2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2013, 02:13 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: _, Texas
Trailer: Escape 5.0 SA
Posts: 544
Just as a FYI...I have access to my outdoor shower plumbing in my 2012 "outdated" 5.0 from under the kitchen sink. An easy mod.
Attached Thumbnails
Outdoor Shower plumbing 001.JPG  
daveandsandyclink is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2013, 02:22 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
bvansnell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2010 Escape 13
Posts: 431
I winterize by blowing out all lines, including the ones for the outside shower, and have not had a problem with water freezing in the lines. It is a simple solution.
__________________
Brian

2003 Subaru Forester
2012 Toyota Highlander V6
2010 Escape 13 "Ladybug" Feb 2010
bvansnell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2013, 02:48 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: _, Texas
Trailer: Escape 5.0 SA
Posts: 544
Brian,
I think Dave was talking about preventing damage while doing cold weather camping with the water system in service.
daveandsandyclink is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2013, 02:58 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
Jrn56's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Cottage Grove, Minnesota
Trailer: 2013 Escape 19
Posts: 365
I think it would be great if some of these mods like shut off valves would be made standard items.
__________________
John and Brenda
Cottage Grove, MN
Jrn56 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2013, 07:04 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
bvansnell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2010 Escape 13
Posts: 431
Water in Winter

Dave
Gotcha. We have done winter camping when it was freezing outside and our trailer was winterized. We had a supply of water in containers for cooking and washing which we filled at the "winter water" supply in campsites. This was no hardship. Here is a photo of Salal with hoar frost near Fort Ebey on Whidbey Island in February 2011 to show you it was cold outside!
Salal with hoar frost | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Even if a campsite has water connections in winter and the trailer is warm there will still be the challenge of keeping the water in the lines from freezing when you are travelling. Won't you need to winterize the trailer again?
__________________
Brian

2003 Subaru Forester
2012 Toyota Highlander V6
2010 Escape 13 "Ladybug" Feb 2010
bvansnell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2014, 09:02 PM   #13
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Park City/Scottsdale AZ, Utah
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19
Posts: 109
Update Exterior Shower Shut Off

Old thread but FYI, Kim just informed me that they won't install a shut off for the exterior shower on our yet to be built 19. We camp a lot at high elevations and even in summer it regularly drops below freezing even in summer (1/2 inch of ice in the dog's water bowl), so I think we will just delete it and put an extension out the bathroom window when needed, makes sense after spending all the $$ on foam and heat pads - I'm probably a bit gun shy having experienced the consequences of a frozen hose bib.
Bcdonaher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-23-2014, 09:19 PM   #14
Senior Member
 
Jim Bennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Trailer: 2017 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 15,532
I have shut-off valves on mine. It would be an easy retrofit depending on shower location.
__________________
2017 Escape 5.0 TA
2015 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5L EcoBoost
2009 Escape 19 (previous)
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
Jim Bennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 08:31 AM   #15
Senior Member
 
Dave Walter's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 2013 19' & 2013 15B
Posts: 2,634
I don't believe that the external shower valves and shower head are free draining. So even with the shut-off valves installed, in order to drain the shower lines to prevent freezing, you would have to blow the lines out with air before closing the shut-off valves. Now this could be done before you left home with your trailer, but if you do not have access to an air compressor, it could be difficult to accomplish in a remote campsite. Thus, the shut-off valves would work fine if you had no plans on using the external shower, but maybe not so good if you were planning on showering (although if it is cold enough outside to freeze water, showering outside may not be a great experience anyways).
__________________
2013 19' \ 2013 15B, 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Offroad

"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it." - 1907, Maurice Switzer
Dave Walter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 10:16 AM   #16
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Park City/Scottsdale AZ, Utah
Trailer: 2014 Escape 19
Posts: 109
Quote:
Originally Posted by ice-breaker View Post
I don't believe that the external shower valves and shower head are free draining. So even with the shut-off valves installed, in order to drain the shower lines to prevent freezing, you would have to blow the lines out with air before closing the shut-off valves. Now this could be done before you left home with your trailer, but if you do not have access to an air compressor, it could be difficult to accomplish in a remote campsite. Thus, the shut-off valves would work fine if you had no plans on using the external shower, but maybe not so good if you were planning on showering (although if it is cold enough outside to freeze water, showering outside may not be a great experience anyways).
That's a really good point, maybe that's why they won't install a shutoff. I think a longer hose to the interior shower and sticking it out the window is the best solution.
Bcdonaher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 02:11 PM   #17
Senior Member
 
dave macrae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: St.Albert, Alberta
Trailer: 21 ft November 17th
Posts: 847
I have a thought about this very thing. My idea was to shut off valves after winterizing in the fall so in the spring I could flush the antifreeze out and leave it in the outside shower untill it is warmer out. Then in the early fall use the easy winterize kit to push some anti freeze through and then shut them off and flush out the rest of the system. that Ibelieve could extend the season for us quite a bit.
__________________
MacRae, 21ft
2016 GMC Yukon SLT
St.Albert Alberta
dave macrae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 02:52 PM   #18
Senior Member
 
Jim Bennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Trailer: 2017 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 15,532
The only times my outside shower valves have been used (other than once) was when I open them to drain the water out in the fall. I just leave the shut-offs closed all the time, so even if it freezes, there is just air in the lines from the shut-off valves.

As I have mentioned before, the only reason I would get outside taps again would be on the curbside for use for washing dishes. It is way too inconvenient for most places with park to use them on the backside.
__________________
2017 Escape 5.0 TA
2015 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5L EcoBoost
2009 Escape 19 (previous)
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
Jim Bennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 03:29 PM   #19
Senior Member
 
dave macrae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: St.Albert, Alberta
Trailer: 21 ft November 17th
Posts: 847
We use ours quite a bit, washing the dog if needed. Small white dogs tend to get a bit grubby sometimes. Also find rinsing sand off the feet if there is a beach . I like the idea of having it on the awning side for dishes though. Although if it was used for the dog and such it would make a wet mes around the door area.
__________________
MacRae, 21ft
2016 GMC Yukon SLT
St.Albert Alberta
dave macrae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 03:50 PM   #20
Senior Member
 
Jim Bennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Trailer: 2017 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 15,532
I tried to wash our dogs feet once, but the hose only goes to 2' from the ground. It has sat idle since.
__________________
2017 Escape 5.0 TA
2015 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5L EcoBoost
2009 Escape 19 (previous)
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
Jim Bennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off




» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Escape Trailer Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:53 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2023 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.